1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general, to support of intelligent client computer systems on a network, and to remote maintenance support of such systems in particular.
2. Background
When enterprise computer networks were based on mainframes with xe2x80x9cdumbxe2x80x9d terminals at remote locations, the network manager had complete control over the network and processing was performed at the mainframe. Personal computers provide major processing power on the desktop and, as first deployed, were not connected in networks so that all support and maintenance was local. Now, desktop computers are increasingly being tied into networks; but, unlike mainframe managers, the network manager of a PC network has limited control and information of the respective clients, with their ability to customize software and hardware configurations.
With such systems that are capable of standalone operation, far more can go wrong that is outside the network manager""s knowledge or control. This flexibility and power is valuable to the end user but limits the ability of the network manager to do maintenance and support. To a large degree the network manager must xe2x80x9cfly blindxe2x80x9d when working with an unattended remote client system.
This is a situation is becoming more difficult as personal computer complexity and power increases. Moreover, clients are becoming more dependant on their systems to do their work and less tolerant of downtime. To make matters worse today""s powerful systems are difficult for most users to deal with when abnormal operation (e.g. a fault or system hang) occurs. An error message is an unwelcome visitor.
There is some software available to manage systems remotely such as IBM""s NetFinity, Intel""s LanDesk, and Hewlett Packard""s Openview. There are also advanced diagnostics such as PC Doctor.
Since, however, all these management programs run as applications on the operating system, the system must be functional, to some significant degree, in order to use such programs. In other words, the management software can only manage a functional system. Even the simplest of failures can prevent the system from being thus manageable, resulting in a costly on-site service call. Intermittent problems make matters worse because even on-site service may not be able to duplicate the problem situation.
According to the invention, local logic that is able to monitor interrupts and system conditions incident to interrupts, creates a log of events that identify system problems yet is independently functional of the client system on which it resides. By so coupling such logic to the network through the client system network connector that it can, at any time, alert the network manager of system condition using a packet which conforms to the network protocol as if sent by the client, the manager can respond to system hangs and other errors effectively, even when the system is unattended.
Using independently generated signals conforming to normal network communication protocol to transfer information avoids any necessity to expand or redo the network. For example, a standard Ethernet network passes the packets, which look like normal data packets, to alert the network manager to error conditions in the system that would otherwise be undetectable without on-sight presence. Furthermore, the availability of a history collected at the time of the incident facilitates identification of problems, even intermittent problems, that are difficult to identify and correct using after-the-fact, on-sight fault determination. By so enabling clients, they identify their operational state whether normal, hung or inoperative due to a crash without changing the connecting structure of the network and by such use of monitoring and auxiliary logic this information can be sent even though the client itself is not able to execute a program. Indeed, if the operating system has crashed the manager can be informed and take action to download a new image to the client""s fixed drive. The packet may be sent intermittantly or in response to a predefined request packet sent over the network by the network manager.